Pro-abortion lobby routed at Council of Europe

8 October 2010

An attack on the right of conscientious objection in the Council of Europe has been defeated. The Council's parliamentary assembly voted on a report that recommended a crack-down on medical personnel who refuse to be complicit in abortion and other unethical procedures. The report was totally reversed from a pro-abortion attack on conscientious objection to a defence of conscientious objection. Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, said the outcome was an incredible victory for the rights of staff in medical institutions. [John Smeaton, 7 October] http://bit.ly/d8AN5J

UK physicians establish lobby organisation for assisted suicide

A number of physicians in the UK have formed a group called Healthcare Professionals for Change (HPC), which will lobby for the legalisation of assisted suicide. Dr McPherson, chairman of the HPC, says she believes terminally-ill people should be allowed to choose to die at home at the time of their choosing. Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, quoted Dr Christoph Hufeland (Johann Goethe's doctor) that when a doctor steps outside their vocation to preserve life, he becomes the most dangerous man in the state. [Telegraph, 3 October] http://bit.ly/aeCAlR

UK TV pundit advocates 'compassionate' murder of infants

Virginia Ironside, the writer and TV pundit, said this week that she would suffocate to death a suffering child. Mrs Ironside's comments were made during a morning talk-show broadcast live on the BBC. Minutes before this, she praised the abortion of unwanted or disabled children as a "moral" act. The BBC has received a number of complaints from shocked viewers. Anthony Ozimic, SPUC's communications manager, said Mrs Ironside's comments prove that the possibility of abortion and euthanasia leads to a coarsening of consciences and a hardening of hearts. [Daily Mail, 5 October] http://bit.ly/cEjwsf